Izhevsk

New Year

Waiting for the New Year
Waiting for the New Year

December 22, 2003

The class is psyched about New Year’s Eve, its one of the country’s biggest holidays. It’s typically celebrated with family and/or friends, presents are given on New Year’s Eve and before the stroke of midnight, the president always gives a speech. One person said his parents always watch, but I get the impression no one else really does, at least not the younger generation. Like the the United States, everyone drinks champagne at midnight, but that’s about all I know for now.

January 1, 2003

Yesterday's New Year’s party started at about 7:00. Vatalya was about 20 minutes late… again (there’s this unspoken rule in Russia: guys have to be on time, but girls can be 15 or 20 minutes late… if by some miracle she arrives on time and the guy is late he’s got hell to pay).

Once everyone was there, Seth and I ran out to buy more food then returned to the apartment at about 7:50 or 8:00. Preparing all the food took a long time; we cut apples and oranges, bread, sausage, which was really just chunks of a pig, we shredded cheese, then cleared the dishes. I cut the bread, because bread must always be cut by a man… “A house where the man cuts the bread will be prosperous.”

They took the really good bread and ruined it by putting the ham and cheese on it then cooking it; I ate it because I was hungry. I also ate bread with Russian ketchup, which is similar to salsa and some fruit.

After preparing our meal the guys, by tradition drank vodka and everyone had wine. We sat around for a good long time however time crawled by slowly so we played a few Russian games, which do little more than help the time pass.

At one point two girls left for another party so Seth and Kerial walked them there and dropped them off, but only after walking back another 15 minutes to this apartment did we find out the girls didn’t like it because the guys at the party were too drunk so Seth and Kerial had to walk all the way back again. Kolya told me it’s tough to find a party where the major objective isn’t getting drunk and getting laid, but he planned this one, so we probably won’t see much of either.

As mid-night approached all lights were turned off and candles were lit, we gathered in the dining room and turned the TV on. Volkov, the "evil" president of the republic spoke and when he finished it was the New Year. We popped the champagne and everyone had a glass, except me, it makes me horribly sick.

It’s very traditional to write down a wish and burn it at this point, but we didn’t bother. An hour later we again prepared the room by dimming the lights and watched Putin give his speech in Moscow, to mark Moscow's New Year.

We continued the games and later sang with the guitar, not really my style, but it was fun. At about two or three in the morning the girls tried to get cabs, but there were none available so we continued to celebrate the New Year each and every hour including 4:00 (for England). We never got around to the pelmani, the dish I was looking forward to all night (sort of like meat ravioli), since no one else wanted it.

At 6:00 the buses started running again so by about 7:00 we got on the buses to go home, the #40 bus was packed, but the #2 trolley bus was empty, so I took this to the center and got back home at about 7:45.

I only slept until 10:00 when I got up to get ready for my next trip.

Happy New Year!